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Clatsop Community College students enrolled in the Spring term Basic Design class taught by CCC Art Instructor Kristin Shauck are exhibiting a five by eight foot acrylic mural entitled Auto Pop at Lum’s Auto Center in Warrenton. The mural has been up since June 14th and will be on display through the end of July.

The Basic Design course includes an overview of Modern Art movements, color theory, and the principles of design. In a project pulling these concepts together, the students chose to create the Auto Pop mural as a service learning experience aimed at promoting dialogue between faculty, students, and community members, while integrating meaningful fine arts learning experiences beyond the classroom and directly serving the community creatively. The students decided upon a very popular subject as their theme— the car.

Americans have had a love affair with the automobile for well over a century, and owning a car has become an essential part of the American Dream. Basic Design student Loretta Maxwell describes how this subject resonates with her own personal experience: “I grew up in Los Angeles in the 1950s and 1960s when some of the best cars were made. Doing this mural made me very nostalgic. I love those great classics. I got my Learner’s Permit on the day I turned 15 and a half, and I’ve been driving ever since.”

The Pop Art style was a natural choice to express this subject. Pop artists during the peak of this movement in the 1960s celebrated commonplace objects and people of everyday life, in this way seeking to elevate popular culture to the level of fine art. Basic Design student Rachel Fackler sums up the Pop art style as “a gateway to being colorful and being bold! The thick and thin lines of pure black really bring out the vibrancy of the color spectrum.” Famous Pop artist Robert Indiana characterizes this movement as “basically a U-turn back to a representational visual communication, moving at a break-away speed…Pop is a re-enlistment in the world…It is the American Dream, optimistic, generous and naïve.”

Working collaboratively is always an enriching experience as well as a challenge, as several of the Basic Design students reveal. Danielle Peterson expresses her personal experience collaborating with her classmates in creating the mural, “I enjoyed researching the older cars and piecing the design together with my fellow peers. I found that many of us had similar connections with certain models of cars and we would share our stories while we painted. I learned many different techniques when painting this piece and I had a lot of fun mixing the various colors I had to use.” Danielle also describes her thought process in learning how to work within the assigned complementary, triad, and tetrad color schemes, “At first it was complicated trying to work with a limited color scheme. But when I got further along in the process and found that when I added white, black or other hues and values, the color range would expand even further and I wasn’t that limited after all.“ Brooklyn Andrews explains, “This mural has been super fun: I learned a lot about mixing colors and making them ‘pop.’ If I were asked to paint another one, I would have to say yes. This has been a great learning experience.” Mckenzie Cokley also enjoyed the collaboration, “This was my first mural project and I think it turned out awesome. I would definitely want to do another one here soon!”

CCC administrators attending the reception on June 14th at Lum’s celebrating the mural’s unveiling commented on various aspects of the mural: “It showcases America’s love of the road in vibrant color and is the perfect ode to one’s car,” said Kristen Wilkin, Dean of Workforce Education and Training. “It is my pleasure to see all the art work created by our students,” said JoAnn Zahn, Vice President of Finance and Operations. Tom Gill, Director of Institutional Research, described the mural as a “stunning exploration of color combined with iconic images.”

We couldn’t be more pleased to add another innovative artistic endeavor to our directory, and discovering what’s going on in southern Oregon’s creative community is often as much of a surprise to us as it is to anyone else! This time we introduce Mark & Sarah Hannah of Ink & Oil, a design store and gallery based in Grants Pass, OR that offers hard to find design classes and workshops.

Hannah still operates “Thief(it)” in Pasadena, CA. Why Thief it?” he writes on his Web site, thiefit.com. “It is an answer to a question. Next time somebody asks you what to do with an object that would otherwise be thrown away, tell them to Thief It. Create a unique object or product that is your own and save it from the future, which would probably have been a big hole in the ground and, depending on its composition, a very, very long time decaying.” Read the rest of the article from which Mark is quoted at the PasadenaWeekly website to learn more about where he’s come from.

Fortunately for southern Oregon, where Hannahs have come to is here!

Creative Director MARK HANNAH has a degree in Transportation Design from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and teaches Visual Communication at Art Center as well as Product Design and Visual Communication at Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood, California. In his words, “We design and build unique things.” Ink & Oil will also host Mark’s Oregon workshops in Industrial, Entertainment and Sustainable Design, and offers a small Gallery space for local and emerging artists in Southern Oregon. Classes and workshops are offered in the evenings and weekends and are a great resource for students of all ages interested in product or transportation design as well as entertainment design. Future workshops and classes will include a wide range of art and design as well as sustainable processes and design. Visit Ink & Oil’s listing at the Southern Oregon Artists Resource for links and contact information, then take a look at their online store for a peek at some unique products and artwork.

Currently Mark is announcing three workshops to take place at Ink & Oil on March 1 & 2:

Visual Communications

Friday, March 1, 6pm-10pm​ $35

This four hour workshop will introduce students to the basics of Visual Communication.

Perspective, lineweights, value and shadows will be covered.

Automotive Design

Saturday, March 2, 9am-2 pm​ $50

​This 5 hour workshop in Automotive Design will focus on the basics of how to set up a proper perspective drawing for vehicles as well as sketching and ideation basics.

Entertainment Design

Saturday, March 2, 3pm-8pm $50

This 5 hour crash course will introduce the student to the field of Entertainment design and focus on techniques to develop unique and interesting characters and props for the film and gaming industry or just for fun!